Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako Update (CoL)
Term Two 2018
This and future entries share information with our communities, staff and boards keeping all informed of progress and the benefits the CoL | Kāhui Ako has on learning and teaching within this CoL
BACKGROUND
The government’s policy, Investing in Educational Success (IES) announced in 2014, seeks to lift educational achievement by establishing Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako (CoL). The policy encourages collaboration across, and within, early childhood services, kura and schools, and new leadership roles that have been established to oversee and coordinate the work of the CoL.
IES is intended to raise the learning(akō) and achievement of all our children and young people particularly for ākonga/students that are most at risk of underachieving. It will enable a system wide lift for all ākonga/student achievement by:
Encouraging greater collaboration between kura/schools across the schooling system
Recognising, supporting and using professional expertise across the system where it is needed most
Enhancing opportunities for teacher-led innovation of new and good practice, to make clearly visible what is possible, new and exciting.
IES provides resources to help ensure that the work of teachers, tumuaki/principals, Boards of Trustees, and the system is supported in ways that build teachers’ individual and collective capacity to attend to the needs of every student.
The evidence shows that when kaiako/teachers engage in collaborative professional problem solving, focused on the impact of teaching on learning (ako) for students, they can deliver significant and sustained improvement in students’ educational outcomes
We were gifted our name Ngā peka o Tauwharekākaho by Taumutu Rūnanga which means ‘The connecting branches of the Rolleston area’.
Current projects underway include ...
Reviewing and updating the CoL website (established early in 2017) to make it fit for purpose and promoting collaboration within the 11 schools and 22 Early Childhood Centres (ECE) in the first instance, for our educators
Co-leaders are engaging and visiting all 22 Early Learning Centres across our CoL | Kāhui Ako building relationships
Establishing a Stewardship Group who effectively have a similar role to a Board of Trustees. This group consists of a Taumutu representative, principals, and Board of Trustee members from across the CoL.
Roles and Responsibilities for this group would include the following
Advisors
Strategy and planning
Communications
Finance and resources
Concerns and complaints
Employers roles and responsibilities
Monitoring progress towards achievement challenges and
Self review
Reviewing and developing operating protocols and decision making processes developed as a cluster of schools since 2014
Collating evidence across the CoL in preparation for discussions for our achievement challenges
Engaging with our local iwi - Taumutu Rūnanga
Links to support updates
Sandra Keenan
Susan Jackson
Leads